Romania between Western Europe, Russia, and the Orient

This essay is a selection and adaptation of several fragments of the manuscript “Cultures, Religions and Geopolitics” which should hopefully be published soon. The manuscript focuses on how culture and religion has shaped and is still shaping political and geopolitical behavior. And culture is treated from an anthropological point of view as the interplay between beliefs, values and behavior. For this issue of Geopolitic, I have selected those fragments that pertain directly or indirectly to Romania.
Geographically, Romania is in the center of Europe, but culturally is an Eastern European country with both Western and Oriental influences. That means that the country is the result of its own internal evolution as well as of many foreign cultural and political influences. Thus, Romania is the place where Western Europe meets Eastern Europe and where Northern Europe meets Southern Europe. And Europe is the cradle of the modern world and civilization. To understand Romania, one has to understand its location and evolution as well as the evolution of Europe.
From a cultural point of view, by about 1000 AD virtually all of Europe was Christian, but shortly after the new religion was adopted and its values and beliefs began to penetrate the masses, the church split between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East. After that split, the East came under the threat of the Tatars and the Turks and the two halves of the continent started to drift apart. Later, the Reformation, which did not reach Eastern Europe, split the western part of the continent even further. Ever since, the gap between these chief fractions of Christianity has never been reconciled properly.
In East Europe most foreign invaders came from the east, except the Germans who came from the West. The Germans were brutal, but they also brought about economic development, good administration, and social discipline. The Turks came from Asia. As Muslims, they forced Islam on some people, but in general they brought about corruption and socio-economic stagnation. The Russians, heirs of the Tatars, came from north-east and brought about mostly destruction. All these invaders converged in Romania making it a sad and interesting case of foreign influences.
Russia is a civilization and culture by itself. Although, it has achieved international prominence in many fields, such as science, literature and music, Russia developed mostly in isolation. From this point of view, people who spent time in Russia made an interesting observation. When going to visit France, England or Germany, for example, the Russians go to “Europe.” Indeed, psychologically, the Russians have ambiguous feelings toward Europe, as if they were not part of it. And as a rule the Russians mistrust foreigners and foreign ideas. For most Russians Europe and Asia are two different worlds. To this day, the Russians remember with deep fear the Mongol and the German invaders. The Mongols have been gone for a long time, but in their stead there are now the Chinese. The Germans also no longer pose a threat, but they have been replaced by NATO. And the United States cannot be considered a friend because America dashed the dream of Soviet global domination and of Russian grandeur.
Romania is very much the result of its geopolitical position that made it subject to many foreign invasions. Whoever came to south-east Europe from the eastern steppes of Russia or from Central Asia had to invade and cross the Romanian lands. Some invaders settled in today Romania and were gradually assimilated. Others settled around the country and separated various Romanian enclaves from the motherland. Yet, other minorities settled in the center, such as the Magyars, where they have been threatening the integrity of the country.